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Iran has named Mojtaba Khamenei as its new supreme leader.
His father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed during US-Israeli strikes on Tehran on February 28.
Iranian state TV announced Khamenei’s selection.
The younger Khamenei had long been considered a contender, even before an Israeli strike killed his father at the start of the war, and despite never being elected or appointed to a government position.
Iran’s powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard answers to the supreme leader, and now Khamenei will have the central say in war strategy.
There has been only one other transfer of power in the office of supreme leader since the Islamic Revolution almost a half-century ago.
A secretive figure, the younger Khamenei has not been seen publicly for days. He now stands at the heart of Iran’s theocracy and will have final say over all matters of state. He will serve as commander-in-chief of the military and Revolutionary Guard, and gains a stockpile of highly enriched uranium that could be used to build a nuclear weapon, if he chooses to decree it.
US President Donald Trump earlier called Mojtaba Khamenei an “unacceptable” choice.
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